KDF Allegedly Kills El-Adde DC

Kenyan soldiers have allegedly killed El-Adde district commissioner, Abdirashid Ali Abdi Qoorleeh on Tuesday in Likooley town of Gedo region.

Reliable sources say said the administrator was arrested by the KDF immediately after the 15th January attack in which Al-Shabab claimed to killed more than 100 soldiers.

The incident comes hours after Al-Shabab ambushed Kenya soldiers’ convoy serving with the African Union peace forces in Somalia, residents said.

Dozens of armed Al-Shabab fighters attacked a convoy carrying Kenyan troops on Tuesday in a remote area close to El-Adde town in southwestern Gedo region of Somalia.

“We heard heavy gun battles that lasted for more than 12 hours. All the residents were in state of fear and shock,” said one resident in Likooley, where the attack took place.

The number of casualties is yet unclear as the area is remote.

But Al-Shabab officials have claimed through their media that they have killed around 12-soldiers and destroyed military trucks.

Kenya said the local clan might have played a role in the attack’s planning and execution especially Marehan clan lives in the El Adde, Gedo region where the camp was.

“The Marehan clan feels KDF has been working to help the Ogaden and other clans seen as their rivals and that is what we think drove some of them to betrayal,” a source who asked not to be named told Daily Nation.

Kenya Defense Force (KDF) left El-Adde on Monday night, less than a month after less than a month after its military base overran by the group.

Kenya contributed more than 4,000 troops to the 22,000-strong AU force that is in Somalia helping the UN-backed government battle Al-Shabab.

Al-Shabab was ousted from the capital, Mogadishu, in August 2011, but still has a presence in large areas of southern Somalia and often stages attacks across the country.

AMISOM was established by the African Union Peace and Security Council in January 2007. One month later, the UN Security Council approved the mission’s mandate, which, among other things, includes supporting Somalia’s transitional government, training Somali security forces and combating Al-Shabab.